By Austin Driedger

Briercrest Clippers women’s basketball team battled through a hard fought game and ended up losing to the Medicine Hat Rattlers with a score of 67-52 in favor of Medicine Hat.

Briercrest started the first quarter strong, leading with a score of 17-13 after the first ten minutes. With Brittany Larson (Birch Hills, SK) recovering from an ankle sprain, fellow teammate Kennedy Sawatzky (Calgary, AB) stepped into the role of being the primary ball carrier to fill the shoes of Larson, playing significantly less minutes in order to recover fully. Sawatzky was able to move the ball well, and looked confident carrying the ball up the court. Great first quarter play from Hannah Klassen (Abbotsford, BC) as well, scoring a three point shot as well as a strong drive to the hoop to finish the first quarter with 5 points.

Second quarter was tight as the two teams went back and forth, after the Rattlers played very strong. Briercrest played well down low around the basket, and that proved to be a consistent way of getting points. Not as strong a quarter for Briercrest as they only were able to get 6 points, and the half finished with a tie 23-23.

The third quarter continued to be close. Briercrest struggled with the amount of fouls that they took, taking eight fouls in the third quarter alone. The quarter ended with an entertaining buzzer beater from Laura Wild (Spruce Grove, AB) who hit the shot just inside the three point line in the corner, adding two points in the final seconds for Briercrest. The Rattlers managed to continue controlling the pressure, outscoring Briercrest 24-20, and the quarter finished with the Rattlers on top with a score of 47-43.

Fourth quarter was a hard fight, but the Medicine Hat Rattlers outplayed Briercrest handily going on a tear, outscoring Briercrest 20-9 in the quarter. Defensively Briercrest had some breakdowns, giving space for the Rattlers to force their way down low and finish easy baskets.

Player of the game for Medicine Hat Rattlers was Landace Mcclughan (Regina, SK) with 16 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and one block. For Briercrest, the player of the game was Laura Wild scoring 12 points, three rebounds and one steal.

Game notes: The games was quote even in statistics with Medicine Hat holding the edge in rebounds 41-34 and assists 18-14, but both teams had two blocks and 16 steals. Both teams had identical shooting from the field making 21 of 60 shots, but Medicine Hat went to the line over twice as much as Briercrest, making 21 of their free throws (84%) to Briercrest’s six free throws made (50%). Briercrest was led by Hannah Klassen with 13 points, Tracy Frimpong with eight rebounds, Brittany Larson with four assists and Claire Richardson with a game high four steals.

Briercrest plays Medicine Hat again tomorrow at 1:00 pm at the Margaret P. Reimer Memorial Gymnasium in Caronport. If you cannot make it to the game be sure to follow online at SportsCanada.tv or like Briercrest Basketball on Facebook.